PTI Blog
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WEAPON DISARMS IN THE PEKITI-TIRSIA SYSTEM
First, some general principles:1. Train as if your opponent’s weapon is a sword. Therefore, your first move should not be to grab his blade.
2. A disarm is much easier to do if you first do some damage to the hand holding the weapon, or to the mind controlling that hand.
Grand Tuhon Gaje would emphasize over and over again that you should not “hunt” for a disarm, but recognize the opportunity for a disarm once you get a disabling hit or cut to the opponent’s weapon arm or head. The reason the Disarma set is so large and has so many techniques, is that an opponent’s hand may be at different angles after you strike or cut him and therefore you need different disarms and angles of approach to successfully disarm him. -
How to design a FMA based Self-Defense/Defensive Tactics Drill.
The drills described in this article come from two sources. The first are the fighting principles found in the Pekiti-Tirsia system of Filipino martial arts. The second are the teaching methods I learned during my time as a defensive tactics instructor for my department.
I began training in Pekiti-Tirsia in 1975 and began teaching defensive tactics for the NY State Court system in 1987. Both of these have contributed to my understanding of how to teach this material to a wide variety of people. I have tried to structure this article so it can be adapted to any martial arts or defensive tactics program.
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QUESTIONS ON THE DOCE METHODOS
During my research into the Tri-V formula, I was asked about the Doce Methodos (DM), as this material is often referred to as the older teaching system used for Pekiti-Tirsia when instructors are learning the Tri-V. I recall seeing two lists of the Doce Methodos from Grand Tuhon Gaje (GT), around 1976 or 77 during the days of his first organization, the Arnis America Organization. -
UNIFIED FIELD THEORY OF FMA FOOTWORK
I’ve been playing around for many years trying to draw a diagram with all the footwork patterns of Pekiti-Tirsia on a single grid. This experiment started after seeing so many FMA teachers adding various triangles, diamonds and other patterns to the floors of their schools to help their students understand FMA footwork. I thought it was a great idea and wondered if it might be a fun mental exercise to try and have as many patterns as possible within a single framework. Call it my Unified Field Theory of FMA/PT footwork. -
ALPHABITO, NUMERADO, OFFENSA-DEFENSA IN THE PEKITI-TIRSIA SYSTEM (Leo stories part 2)
This video contains samples from the Alphabito, Numerado and Offensa-Defensa sets; one of the last techniques I learned in the Pekiti-Tirsia syst... -
CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT GRIP
Back in the 1970s, when I first started learning Pekiti-Tirsia knife work, Tuhon Gaje had us do many exercises to strengthen our grip. Things like doing push ups while holding our rattan sticks with the butt end braced on the floor, as well as striking and thrusting our sticks full power into a stack of car tires. -
HOW TO FIND YOUR PERSONAL FIGHTING STYLE
While a fighter needs to know just a few good techniques that work for him and his own fighting style, a teacher needs to know many more techniques, since he can’t predict what type of fighter will come train with him.
Here are a few ways to help your students refine their personal fighting style and which techniques, tactics and principles best fit that style.
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HOW TO HIT HARD
( In this article I will discuss how to train using equipment such as the tire stack, heavy bag and focus mitts and which weapons are best trained on each training tool ) -
PEKITI-TIRSIA INTERNATIONAL KNIFE OUTLINE
The following structure closely follows the way I learned Pekiti-Tirsia knife work from Grand Tuhon Gaje in the 70’s and 80’s. -
WHY RATTAN?
Most blade based martial arts have included wooden swords as part of their training.
The samurai had oak training swords called “bokken” and european swordsman of the Middle Ages and Renaissance used hardwood wooden swords called, (in English,) “wasters”.
The Martial Arts of the Philippines are no different, but the most common wood used for training traditionally is a vine-like species of palm known as rattan (one of 600 species of Calameae). -
ISSUES REGARDING SELF-DEFENSE & THE LAW
The following is adapted from the lecture I gave as part of my job as a firearms instructor for the New York State Court system. I am not a lawyer ...
